1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is that of an apparatus and method of utilization thereof of a fluid powered booster for vehicle hydraulic braking systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to provide a booster for increasing the force exerted on the piston of a vehicle hydraulic brake master cylinder. Most boosters utilize the vacuum supplied by the internal combustion engine of the vehicle. Vacuum supplied power boosters tend to be large. In smaller vehicles, space constraints underneath the hood can make the vacuum boosters very difficult to fit in the space available. As a result of the size of vacuum boosters it is virtually impossible to place them within the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Meeting the challenge of vehicle emission standards and the use of turbo chargers has reduced the amount of vacuum which is available for use with the brake booster. Furthermore, on mid-sized trucks the amount of vacuum available is often borderline for full activation of the braking system, thereby making the provision of an alternative booster advantageous.
An alternative to the vacuum booster is a hydraulic booster. Typically the hydraulic booster offers greater capacity, however, most hydraulic boosters require the addition of an electro-hydraulic pump or are parasitic off of the power steering system pump, thus requiring the hydraulic system supporting the booster to have an accumulator for additional capacity. The cost of the hydraulic system is one of the main factors discouraging the use of hydraulic boosters.